


It's A New Day

by Val_Creative



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Awkwardness, Banter, Domestic Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hot Tub, Hot Tub Sex, Humor, M/M, Massage, Minor Injuries, Not Canon Compliant, Nudity, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:02:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29661471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Creative/pseuds/Val_Creative
Summary: Steve returns the Infinity Stones and decides to come back to the 21st century as planned. He and Bucky maneuver clumsily aroundwhatever it isbetween them. Feels like love, feels like it's always been love.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 7
Kudos: 100
Collections: Proximity Flash





	It's A New Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Meatball42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball42/gifts).



> Always wanted to try a fanfiction fix-it for Endgame's conclusion for Steve Rogers. Never did like it. I know a lot of Stucky fans agree so I hope y'all enjoy this! Any comments/thoughts are welcomed here! Thanks!

*

It was tempting to stay behind in 1949. 

But, that would been a mistake. Steve thought about his friends and allies before making his decision, and he knew the fighting wasn't over. More of the bad guys like HYDRA exist. More disaster and death. He needs to focus on the present, not the past.

The time machine whirs, and the residual Pym Particles quantum energy powers down. 

_"YES!"_ Bruce hollers, victoriously punching the air with his uninjured arm.

Steve waits for his Advanced Tech Suit to disable before stepping off. Bucky and Sam appear stunned "What took you so long, man?" a frowning Sam asks, approaching as Steve places a emptied silver suitcase in the grass. "We thought you… _jesus_ …"

"Thought you weren't coming back…" Bucky murmurs. 

He hasn't moved, his arms tucked against himself and hands deep in jacket-pockets. Bucky's expression must have been the same as the one Steve gave him when he learned Bucky got his enlistment— _don't leave—don't leave without me again—_

Guilt creeps up.

"For a second, I… I honestly thought I wasn't gonna either…" Steve admits, eyeing Sam who visibly relaxes from tensing and pats Steve on the back, and then eyeing Bucky. Steve's mouth quirks up. "Looks like I didn't take all of the stupid with me."

A snorting laugh. Bucky goes from crestfallen to deadpan amusement, opening up an arm to embrace a grinning Steve. The side of their heads press together. As soon as Steve feels the other man's warmth, his arm tightens around Bucky's shoulders. It never feels like enough. He always seems to want more of Bucky, and Steve doesn't quite know what to make of that.

Steve turns his lips closer to Bucky's ear, whispering, _"You know I'm gonna be with you until the end of the line, right?"_ He listens for the low, trembling intake of breath. Bucky nods jerkily against him, and Steve can only imagine how his face looks.

 _"Right,"_ Bucky answers, hiding a sniffle by clearing his throat. 

Steve's fingers drift down, holding the middle of Bucky's lower back comfortingly.

They're gonna be fine. Everything will be.

*

Nothing can go back to normal at the New Avengers Facility, because it wasn't a place for normal people. Steve doesn't mind. He recognizes the highs and the lows, and makes of it what it is. As long as Steve has a purpose, he can function _normally_.

Tony redesigned the building a year ago, insisting on multiple bathrooms and pool rooms and luxuries. 

Steve doesn't know if anyone has bothered to explore the several back-rooms, on the lower floor, but he finds himself wandering there. One of the rooms opens from the hallway, leading through a dark, polished granite tunnel with overhead lights. More granite covers all of the surfaces. The ceiling above Steve has an appearance of foil, shiny and backlit in teal.

He spots Bucky wading into a nearby jacuzzi, definitely _not_ wearing swim trunks. Steve's eyes wander, like he earlier had, following the jut of Bucky's naked, muscular ass as Bucky dips himself into the surge of foamy water.

"You good, Steve?"

Bucky's voice comes out soft and neutral. He doesn't have on his new vibranium arm, and that makes sense to Steve. Bucky doesn't voluntarily wear it. He doesn't like the reminder of what vibranium arms have done in the past. _Present, not past._

"What happened to you?" Steve questions, tapping his right jaw, indicating where Bucky has a growing, darkening bruise.

From another hallway, and practically strutting with confidence, Sam walks in.

"Got his butt whooped, that's what," he says, throwing a towel aside. Sam flashes a wide, cheerful smile to a grumbling Bucky, and Steve bites down his own emerging smile. "Sorry, man. Thanks for exercise." As soon as he leaves, Steve grunts.

"Exercise, huh?" he points out.

Bucky adjusts himself in the noisy and pressured water, giving a one-armed shrug. "Needed to blow off some stream… I ended up sparring with Falcon," he monotones. Bucky heals fast, Steve thinks. Any bruises left won't be there in the morning.

"Sam's a good guy, Bucky." 

Steve loosens his boot-laces and slips them off. He removes his thick, white socks, rolling them into a ball. 

"Good at _whopping your butt_ , too," Steve adds gleefully, looking up from his task. Bucky cracks a smirk, thrusting his hand deep into the jacuzzi water and splashing noticeably in Steve's direction. A couple of water droplets hit Steve's neck. 

"… What the hell are you doing now, Steve?"

"Nothing," Steve says innocently. "Is the water hot?"

"Are you kidding? No shit—it's a _hot tub_."

"Good," he quips, pulling off his long-sleeve turtleneck and disregarding how Bucky narrows his eyes warily. 

Everything's illuminated in bluish-green. Tiny, square bulb-lights pulsate on the jacuzzi's edges as Steve nears it, rucking off his jeans. Once all of his clothes are neatly folded and stacked on the ground, Steve climbs in, apologizing under his breath.

It's not a whole lot of… space to work with. But, he's careful about keeping a respectful distance from Bucky.

(As respectful as _five feet_ while naked can be.)

"Find your own hot tub, punk."

"No," Steve says in mock-contemplation, barely suppressing his laughter, "I don't think I will." He ducks away quickly when Bucky splashes again, but Steve hesitates when Bucky flinches up and bends his arm in to clutch onto his shoulder. 

He ignores the respectful distance, marching to Bucky. The hot and foaming water churns up to their mid-sections.

"Turn," Steve orders, gently lowering Bucky's arm and inspecting the shoulder. He can't find anything but Bucky's heated skin. Steve's thumb presses in, digging for a swollen tendon and rubbing. Bucky shudders, jolting in Steve's grip. "Easy, Buck. Easy."

_"This is ridiculous…"_

"Nothing I haven't seen before," Steve says offhandedly. "You're tense."

_"Gee, Steve, I wonder why…"_

The sarcasm from Bucky upturns Steve's lips. He dares to shift his hand to Bucky's nape, massaging, mesmerized by the warm flesh that Steve hasn't touched in decades. _Decades_. They never shied away from touching each other before. Dressed or undressed. Steve knows he shouldn't, but he leans down to plant a thoughtful kiss on Bucky's shoulder-joint.

Bucky moves sluggish-slow, facing Steve. Dark, long strands of hair plaster to his mouth, and Steve can taste them when he kisses Steve without warning—the fumbling and the ragged moans, and Bucky's naked hips grinding his, hardens Steve fast.

It's happening so fast.

It feels right, Steve thinks. It feels right to be so close. He cups Bucky's unbruised jaw, stroking into his tangled-wet hair and feeling Bucky's cock prodding his thigh. "I wonder why, too," Steve murmurs, chuckling against Bucky's smiling, opening mouth.

"You gonna do anything about it?"

Steve peers fondly over him. "Tempting," he says it like a _maybe_ , and won't stop Bucky from kissing or fucking him numb. It could never be a mistake. They fight for what's good, and for each other, and Steve will do whatever it takes again for Bucky.

_Whatever it takes._

*


End file.
